The Recovery Guy Podcast

Today’s podcast is on paradigms. I was first introduced to this term back in 1993. I was seven years into my personal recovery and was looking for a way to grow beyond the material I was currently involved with. That material was working; it was just I wanted more. I knew there was more out there for me to go get it, I just didn’t know what it looked like or how to find it. A friend of mine had introduced me to Stephen Covey. Stephen had just produced “principle centered leader ship”. It was the first time I had heard about a paradigm. Interestingly enough it was exactly where I wanted to be and what I wanted to understand. I was looking for a new way of thinking. This is what this podcast is all about. In this podcast, I laid the groundwork for next week’s podcast. I asked some questions, I introduce the listeners to terminology and I challenge us to come back with our own answers. Quite simply a paradigm is a standard or a set of ideas a paradigm is simply a way of looking at something the word as I am reading the definition from vocabulary.com it’s that it comes up a lot in academic scientific and business world we’re going to look at it from a psychological, behavior and internal position. I like what Mr. Covey says in that a paradigm is a “mental map”. Like any directions they are best accompanied by a map. The more defined and accurate the map the more likely I am to get from point A to point B. In this podcast, I asked the questions, what is a paradigm, list some practical examples of paradigms, how they affect us negatively and positively, identifying erroneous paradigms, removing/display paradigms that aren’t consistent with our direction, commitment or environment and finally how to adopt new positive paradigms that are in alignment with our direction/commitment/environment. Once we address these we will then have a fuller understanding of Why we are at where we are at with our present thinking, if it’s not where we want to be, then what paradigm change do I need to make to get there. I hope you enjoy the podcast. I hope you have a wonderful day.

Today we cover a tried and true method of ensuring that the check-up is thorough.

Gratitude is the fuel that helps determine the course of my life.

The key to teamwork is putting the WE before ME.

Making sure our entire home is in order when it comes to others.

From deep inside the Recovery guy vault. 

One of the most paradoxical concepts I was ever confronted with was the title of today's podcast. When someone would say to me "In order to win I must surrender" it was as if I was speaking to someone in a different language. The furthest thing from my mind was to surrender. People who surrendered did so because they were losing. Despite my impending death, the last thing I would consider was surrender. I came to find out that surrender was my only way out. To admit that I was powerless was my only access to power. If I was going to win then I must surrender. I had to believe that for me to achieve any greatness in life, let alone mediocrity, surrender would become my pathway. To this day I am grateful to have met a group of people that insisted I surrender. If I wanted what they had, surrender was the only way. I saw them as winners and people who had gained power. I was willing to do anything to have what they had and to become what I saw them becoming. Surrender to win was the path I decided. I hope you decide on this path as well.

Recovery is a life long process. Recovery is not a destination, recovery is a journey.

Today I want to speak with you about a recovery absolute that we can be as confident in as in the air we breathe.

Laura and I just finished watching Season 1 of Perry Mason on HBO. It is a remake of Perry Mason that ran from 1957-66. It is a crime drama set in LA circa 1930s. Emily, a main character, states “A turtle keeps its shell on its back so wherever it is they are home.” The minute I heard this, I thought of my recovery.

My recovery is the shell on my back and wherever I am at I am home. Even Dorothy, in The Wizard of Oz, said, “If I ever go looking for my heart’s desire again, I won’t have to look any further than my own back yard. Because if it isn’t there, I never really lost it, to begin with. There’s no place like home.”

That’s the absolute I am talking about. Once we reconcile our past and build our foundation on the principles of recovery we find the home we have always wanted. It becomes the shell that we live in. No matter where we go we will ALWAYS be home. We are NEVER alone anymore. This is what recovery offers us. So, when you choose what recovery path choose wisely.

Choose a plan that gives you back the power to choose to wear your shell on your back. A path that has a provision to stay recovered for the rest of your life. A path that doesn’t require me to look backward at my past (except when helping someone). When we do this, we can live the absolute that our recovery is a journey for our lifetime.

Here are 3 things I must do to ensure this is true for me.

1. Stay grounded in the truth that set me free
2. Be open to adding new elements to my plan
3. Pray for and assist others along the way

Doing these things will add to the absolute position I decided to take. Thanks for listening and be blessed.

 

When we first arrive in recovery we are questioning many things. We are questioning if we’re making the right decision. We are questioning if this will work for me? We are questioning if we should follow through with the path we decided to try. One of the most exciting things I have ever read is on page 98 of the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous. It reads “Burn it into the consciousness of every man that he can get well regardless of anyone. The only condition is that he trust in God and clean house.”

Being an Exceptional Being is not about being better than others, but rather being the best possible version of others.